


Ghost of You

by aproblemlikeme



Category: Joe Jonas (Musician), Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift (Musician)
Genre: F/M, Love Triangles, Paranormal, Past Relationship(s), Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2018-02-15 17:37:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2237703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aproblemlikeme/pseuds/aproblemlikeme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe Jonas finds himself stuck in an impossible situation since the night his famous ex-girlfriend, Taylor Swift, showed up in his room. </p><p>Taylor asks for something he isn't sure he can do. But he's the only one who could help her. </p><p>And as they figure out how to fix things, will they find themselves trying to fix the relationship they've ruined in the past?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Strange words turn into stranger reality

**Author's Note:**

> I know this relationship is long over and hasn't been mentioned for years, but I've started out reading this fandom pair the first time I got introduced to fanfiction. I've written this a while back and I'm only posting it now. 
> 
> Oh, and I'm sorry about the summary. I'm not good with them.

“Why are you here?” Joe asked, surprised by the figure sitting on the edge of his bed. He would've suspected it to be a crazy fan girl invading his room, and was ready to call security if he hadn't seen the curly blonde's face gazing up at the sound of his voice, looking equally as surprised. 

“I-I don't know,” she admitted, her voice small and unsure. “To talk, maybe?” her golden eyebrows scrunched up as if she she couldn't believe Joe was there, like _**he**_ was the one who suddenly barged in on her. 

She gradually stood up and walked over to him, never taking her steady electric blue eyes off his. 

“Taylor,” he said the word slowly, his lips remembering the form of her name as he voiced it out loud, which he hasn't done in a very long time. 

Taylor stopped a few inches from him. He could smell her sweet perfume from where he stood. It smelled like a mix of raspberry and vanilla.

“I need to tell you something. Something important,” she said but Joe caught the hesitation hidden in her voice and thought he understood what she was trying to tell him. 

Before she could try to speak again, he started, “Look, if this is about the break-up. I swear, I didn't cheat on you. And I really am sorry our relationship ended that way.” He held her by the shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes, meaning to show how much he really meant what he was saying. It sounded harsh but his voice was as honest and sincere as he could make it. 

Her reaction was something he didn't expect, though. 

“It's nothing about THAT!” she spat, practically turning a dark shade of red. “That was five years ago, Joe! What makes you think I'd want to bring that up again?”

She hastily shrugged her shoulders away from his grip and folded her arms across her chest. Her almond-shaped eyes were glaring at him with unhidden rage. Joe felt a shiver run down his spine as the temperature in the room dropped all of a sudden. 

“You're right. I'm sorry,” he backed down, careful not to make her angrier. He didn't want to push Taylor's buttons any further. He knew, maybe more than anyone, just how far her wrath could reach. “But if it's not about that, then, what is it, Taylor?”

Taylor let out a deep sigh, bit at her bottom lip, and looked at the ground like it held the secrets of the universe. Joe immediately knew she was nervous, checking all the tattle-tale signs she uknowingly gives away whenever she was. 

Then, she finally made up her mind and lifted her head to look up at him. “I'm---”

“Joe, who are you talking to?” Taylor was interrupted by a voice just outside the door. 

The doorknob turned and Joe's mother, Denise, entered the room without announcement. 

Joe looked at his mother, knowing that she won't be thrilled to see Taylor in his room. “Mom, we were just---” he looked back at Taylor but all he saw was his empty bedroom. 

“Well?” his mother asked, getting slightly suspicious. Joe shook his dark-haired head.

“Uh, nothing. I was just on the phone,” he lied, willing for his mother not to look at his nightstand, where he knew he left his phone. 

Luckily, she didn't notice. 

Denise stared at his twenty-three year old son, whom she rarely got to see since he moved out to his new house in LA when he was nineteen. She knew he was hiding something. She was his mother, they practically have a sixth sense for that. But she trusted his son enough to hope that he wan't hiding anything illegal or life-threatening. 

“Okay,” she stated, Joe let out a sigh of relief. “You should get some sleep, Joe. You and your brothers' rehearsal is tomorrow and you need all the energy you can get.”

Joe nodded. “I know. It was just something important. Goodnight, mom.”

Denise closed the door and left his son alone. Or so she thought that he was. 

“Taylor?” Joe whispered loudly once he heard his mother's footsteps going down the stairs. “Taylor, where are you?” he opened up his closet drawer, only to find his neatly racked shoes, suits, and clothing inside, no sign of anyone having been hiding there. “Taylor, where are you?” he asked more loudly now, getting a bit frustrated. 

_**“I'm right here,”**_

Joe whipped around and saw Taylor standing inches away from his face. 

“ _ **Jesus!**_ Don't scare me like that!” Taylor chuckled delightfully, staring at him with a 'got you' expression on her angelic face.

“Why did you just disappear?”

“I couldn't let your mom see me.”

Joe looked over at the clock on the wall behind where Taylor was standing. It's already past midnight. “Tay, I think you should be heading home. It's getting late. Whatever it is you wanted to tell me could, at least, wait until tomorrow.” Taylor almost looked relieved. “Maybe we can grab lunch first, before showing up in each other's rooms,” he added as an afterthought, which earned a small smile from Taylor. 

Then, she paused, thinking about something.

“That would be great if I could actually 'grab' lunch with you,” she said with a laugh but her smile falters and Joe caught her eyes shimmering before she looked back down at the ground. 

“Why not?,” Joe asked. She wasn't making any sense. “Taylor, is everything okay?” He gently lifted her head by her chin, seeing her electric blue eyes full of tears. She blinked up at him and both tears fell down in a race on her cheeks. 

“Hey,” his voice was soft and careful. “I'm sorry. We don't need to wait until tomorrow. You could stay here and we'll talk.” He cupped the sides of her face with his hands and gently wiped away her tears with his thumbs. 

Taylor stared and Joe stared back. He saw the grief inside her eyes but he also saw a flash of something more in them, something that was hidden behind the sadness she was showing. 

“No. I'm fine,” she gently took off his hands from her face and backed away. ”I-I need to go now.”

Joe was about to say something but it was as if she put up a wall around her to shut him out and prevent him from knowing what she was hiding. ”Do you need a ride?” he asked instead. She didn't reply. 

She faced the wooden door and didn't do anything else but stare at it. Joe took this as a sign that she changed her mind on leaving but then she looked back and asked him, “Uhm, c-could you open the door for me?”

“Sure.” Joe was completely puzzled by her. What's with her? He'd never seen her act this strange before. 

He walked over and opened the door. Taylor hurridely walked out, muttering a simple goodbye. 


	2. Feel it to Believe it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first time I've submitted a story series here and this is my first second chapter. It's a strange feeling hahaha

Joe woke up to the sound of his alarm clock ringing on his nightstand. He didn't have a lot of sleep thinking about what happened last night. His famous ex-girlfriend, Taylor Swift, uninvitedly showed up in his bedroom, wanting to talk to him about something. What it was? He didn't know. He didn't have the chance to find out because she left before she could tell him. 

Taylor and Joe have never been on the same term since the break-up drama happened. It took a very long time for them to forgive but after all the crazy things that happened, Joe admitted that it was also hard for both of them to forget. But despite all that, it still didn't explain why Taylor was acting extremely out-of-character last night. Her unwavering smile, her dry sense of humor, her goofy, child-like actions, and even her cheeky attitude that Joe had managed to dislike and admire about her, were nowhere to be seen. 

He got up and headed straight to his bathroom. He brushed his teeth and washed his face by the sink. It was only 5:30 in the morning and his head was already throbbing wildly by the lack of sleep. Everything was deafeningly silent and he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched as he was washing up. 

Every hair in his body rose up when he was hit by a chilly breeze, though, there were no open windows in his bathroom. 

He was wiping his face with a towel when he heard a thump in his room. He opened up his bathroom door and saw one of his framed-pictures lying on the floor. The same feeling of being watched came over him again, only this time, it felt stronger. He thought he heard someone call his name, although, it was barely audible and sounded fainter than a whisper. 

“Joey, are you there?” He jumped by the sound of a female voice yelling out from behind the door. “Joey, open up! It's me, Ash!”

He opened the door and was greeted by a tight hug from Ashley. He could smell the strawberry-scented shampoo of her straight brown hair, that was gathered up in a bun. “I missed you! We haven't had time to hang out in weeks!” Ashley said. She was awfully cheery despite the early hour. She broke their hug and hurriedly went inside Joe's bedroom. 

She saw the picture frame on the floor. “What happened here?” she asked 

“Maybe it got knocked over by something.” Joe shrugged. “Why are you here so early, Ash? We don't have to leave until seven.” Joe questioned, intent on changing the subject. 

“No reason. Is it wrong to visit your boyfriend earlier than expected?” She went to the mirror on the wall to check on her make-up. 

Suddenly, Joe remembered Taylor's unexpected visit last night. Taylor and Ashley have been good friends even before he and Ash have been together. He thought that maybe Ashley had an idea of what was happening in Taylor's life. 

“Uhm, Ash?” he started to ask. “Yes?” Ashley replied, without turning her attention away from the mirror. “Do you have any idea what's happening with Taylor? She's been acting kind of off lately.”

Ashley suddenly stiffened up. Her face had gotten pale and her eyes were wide with shock. She turned to Joe and said, “Didn't you hear what happened, Joe?” 

“Why? What happened?” Ashley looked at the floor, sniffling. “Ash, what happened?” Joe was getting frustrated. 

“She'd been shot in a robbery incident.” Joe was confused. Didn't he just saw Taylor last night? She didn't look like she'd been shot. 

“Wait, when was this?” He asked, head spinning in confusion. “Two days ago. She hasn't woken up yet,” Ashley answered somberly. Joe was speechless. 

'That's impossible!' he thought. Did he just imagined everything?

He tried to remember what happened in the last few days. He went to the L.A. Hospital for Franky's annual check-up. The hospital was having a commotion about an accident. He didn't know who was causing it and, honestly, he didn't care enough to find out either. 

What if the commotion was actually caused by Taylor being shot? What if the person he saw last night was actually a ghost? He quickly shook those thoughts off his mind. 

If Taylor was a ghost he wouldn't be able to see or hear her, much less touch her. And he didn't even believe in ghosts. It was all just so impossible.

***

After he got dressed and ready, Joe, together with Ashley, drove to the arena where they were having his band's stage rehearsal. He felt sick to his stomach and he can't get his thoughts off the meeting he had with Taylor last night. He kept repeating the scene, trying to make sense of it, but his skeptical mind kept telling him how ridiculous he was being. 

He couldn't help but ask Ashley more about the details of Taylor's accident.

“She bought some things by herself in a grocery store one early morning, and then armed robbers went in and shot a few people. One of the victims was Taylor. She was shot in the stomach and hit her head pretty hard when she fell down.” Ashley's voice was sullen as she explained to him. Joe knew how close she was with Taylor, even if she was aware that she was his ex-girlfriend. Taylor was hard to hate, she had that effect on people who knew her. “I can't believe you haven't heard about it. It's like everywhere!” Joe didn't bother to read the daily news updates about celebrities, but he wished he did.

“...can't believe it, you know?” Ashley kept talking, but Joe wasn't listening.

His mind was still stuck on Taylor's accident. The thought of her being shot and being in a coma was hard for him to imagine but her showing up last night when she was supposed to be sleeping on a hospital bed was unthinkable. He couldn't have imagined the smell of her perfume or the tears on her face that he wiped with his own hands. She looked real. She _**felt**_ real.

But he had to ask one question: was this what she wanted to tell him last night? 

“We're here, Joe. You can stop the car anytime now,” Ashley told him, breaking his reverie. 

“Uhm, sorry.” Joe parked at the lot closest to the location of the arena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys are enjoying the story so far, please, please, please leave me kudos! I don't like to shamelessly beg for them but I am :))


	3. Look Back and Know Why

Taylor was, once again, in the room of Joe Jonas, her former boyfriend. The room looked the same as it did five years ago. Taylor can't believe it had been that long. 

So much had happened after their relationship ended. Her life had been very different in the last five years they've been apart, her career skyrocketed, her fans had quadrupled its size, and she'd been with _**a lot**_ of other boyfriends that she never really had long relationships with. 

She circled the room, realizing that there _**were**_ some little changes that happened in it. He took a lot of pictures, but she clearly recalled how Joe never really liked to frame them, it was kind of her thing, not his. She smiled as she saw his grinning face along with his brothers' in almost every portrait.

One picture caught her eye, though. This picture wasn't something that she could forget that easily. It was a candid picture that she took herself on their first date together, and since Joe was very close to his family, he set the date in this very house with the whole Jonas clan to back him up. His smile, the realest smile she'd ever seen in anyone was captured perfectly in that little photograph. She beamed at the sweet memory but it also sent a painful longing growing in her. 

Then, all of a sudden, she felt herself weaken and the photograph fell to the ground, making a loud thump noise. 

Her hand. 

She stared, her face contorting into a shocked expression, as she saw her hand slowly becoming more and more transparent. She could see the blue carpet and the framed picture through it. She examined her whole body and what she saw shocked her even more, if she thought that was even possible. Her whole body had become transparent.

'What is happening to me?' she asked herself but she very well knew what was happening to her, yet she can't bear to think of that. 

She didn't want to remember how unbearable the pain was as the bullet pierced through her stomach then how it was followed by a dull numb feeling as she slowly blacked out. But what she _**did**_ want to remember was the memory she relived as she was engulfed in darkness falling more and more distant from the chaos she was in. 

The whole scene suddenly materialized before her eyes. She could smell the sweet scent of flowers and the strong smell of dewy grass as she approached the wooden swing set at the corner of the backyard. Someone's silhouette could be seen sitting on it, unmoving and staring straight ahead. 

“Joe,” she whispered his name, moving soundlessly. Everyone was busy inside the house so she went outside to get some air, not expecting Joe to be there too. She sat down next to him and that's only time he moved his head to look at her. 

“Hey,” he said, with the same low voice. There was something about the moment that made them speak in whispers. “Why are you outside?”

“I should be the one asking you that,” she tilted her head, staring at him. “They're done setting up the table. Everyone's probably wondering where you are.”

They were celebrating thanksgiving in Joe's parents' house.

“I don't want to go inside yet.” He looked ahead again, gently pushing his legs to move the swing back and forth.

“What's on your mind?” Taylor asked him. Joe liked to be the life of the party and she expected to see him entertain the guests inside, singing or making jokes about his brothers, not sitting around, staring at empty space. 

“Nothing. Just thinking, that's all.”

“Thinking about what?”

“A lot of things.”

“I bet you one of them is about me.” That made him laugh. “C'mon, it's not not like I'm going to tell anyone. Tell me what's wrong?”

Finally, Joe stared directly at her. Taylor held her breath, only breathing in the intensity of the moment. “I think I love you.”

As if that wasn't unexpected enough, she suddenly laughed at his face. “S-sorry. It's just...” it was just so incredible. After all the songs she wrote about all the boys she'd ever fallen for before, no one had really said those three words to her. “I-I didn't expect—” 

Joe suddenly sat up from the swing, took her face and kissed her. Taylor closed her eyes and kissed him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know this is a really short chapter but that's because I'm not done with the other half of it yet. I figured I should just post the first part anyway because I really want to show Taylor's side in this story. 
> 
> It's pretty obvious that I just love writing about her. 
> 
> Anyway, I'll try to post more chapters as soon as I can.
> 
> And thank you gorgiehensley and another guest for leaving this story its first kudos!


	4. You contradict me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took longer than expected... but here it is!!!

“I was in an accident and now I'm in a coma. My body is in the hospital but I can't get back in it. You're the only one who could see, touch, and hear me. I don't know why but I think you're supposed to help me.”

She braced herself from the outburst she was going to take after the most bizarre speech she'd ever given. But Joe only blinked at her reflection on the mirror of his dressing room. “I figured you'd show up,” he said. 

Joe had been distracted all morning. He skipped out of rehearsals, telling them he had a bad headache and locked himself inside his dressing room. He thought everything out and although he wasn't sure he accepted what he came up with, he couldn't deny that everything led up to what Taylor just told him. 

“I need to wake up.” 

“Me too,” he muttered under his breath. 

“Joe! I'm not joking around here!” Her temper is getting shorter by the moment. Joe jumped from his seat. “Sorry,” he said. 

“Now I—”

“Why is It so cold in here?” He rubbed his hands together and eyed Taylor suspiciously. “Is it you?”

Taylor groaned out. “I'm having a crisis here and you're worried about me changing the temperature! News flash, ghosts apparently lower temperatures when they're mad! Does that answer your question?”

He would never admit it, but Joe was enjoying seeing Taylor in a fit. Her nose scrunches up and her little eyes narrow even more when she does. He was trying hard not to laugh and make her know that he was just messing with her.

Joe knew he _**shouldn't**_ try to be funny about this but he couldn't help it, the other topic was too unknown for him to venture. He's sure that he couldn't come up with answers even if she forced them out of him. 

“If you don't want to help me, just say so. Why should you? This isn't your fault, right? I should just stay out of my body until they cut out my life support and then I can die for real.”

Joe turned around from his seat and faced her directly. She firmly held his gaze but he knew better. He saw the same flash of hidden emotion in her eyes from last night, and now he was sure what it was. Fear. She was afraid. God knows he would be too if he was in the same position. 

“Please, don't say that. I want to help you, Tay. I don't know how but I'll do everything I can.”

She softened up at that. He wasn't prepared to deal with any of this but she could see that he was trying. Why was she giving him the guilt trip anyway? She was starting to sound stupid. 

“Why do I have to go through this with you?” she asked herself out loud. She didn't even have a physical body and yet this whole situation was making her head spin.

“Wow. Thanks for believing in me,” Joe dead-panned. 

“That's not what I meant.” 

“Then, what _**did**_ you mean?”

Taylor's jaw tensed. The truth was, she hated how much he needed Joe. This feeling was all too familiar to her, almost the same as back when she thought he was hers forever. But she wasn't about to admit that out loud. 

Joe sighed, dropping the question. “Before I can help you, you need to tell me everything that happened after the incident.”

She slowly nodded her head. “I woke up in the hospital and I saw...” she trailed off, her eyes were focused at a bottle of hand sanitizer on the small table beside her. “I saw myself lying on a stretcher, getting wheeled to the ER.” She stopped to look at him. “Then I saw you.”

“I-I was there but I didn't—”

“Yeah, you didn't think it was me.” She saw him in one of the hallways, talking to someone on the phone. As strange as it sounded, the sight of him helped keep her sane. He was a familiar site in the midst of a nightmare.

“And how did you end up in my room?”

He saw her cheeks turn red and her eyes widen a bit as it darted everywhere but him. “I'm—I mean, my spirit—is drawn to you. I just show up wherever you are,” she adds, “And I kind of feel more corporeal next to you. Like this morning when I picked up that picture of—” her eyes widen, realizing too late what she just admitted. 

“Wait. That was you?” Joe laughed.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I just thought it was something scarier.”

If she could hit him at the back of the head without disappearing, she would gladly do so.

“I can't do it for too long though. I'd start to disappear.”

Disappear, a word Joe had always known for all his life. Sometimes, he even wished he could do that himself. But now that she brought it up, everything about that word sounded scary to him now. “Tell me, what happens when you disappear? Where do you go?” This was such an uneasy question for Joe to ask.

“It's like,” she took a moment to think it over, “It's when you sink inside your head and you're stuck thinking of the same thing over and over.

“It's not a your-whole—life—flashes—before—you moment, more like just certain parts of it. The parts you almost forgot were important until you see it again.”

Taylor added, “but I still _**hate**_ when it happens.”

“Just don't disappear in front of me, okay?” Joe's expression was serious.

"I bet that would really scare you, won't it?"

"It would."


End file.
